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A Neverland Baby Shower

I’m so happy that my twin brother and his wife, Jenn – who has become a very good friend of mine – are expecting their first baby at the end of this year. I’m already an aunt, but this will be the first niece (yes, it’s a girl!) on my side of the family. And I consider it extra-special since it’s my twin’s baby girl. Eh, call me sentimental – wouldn’t be the first time.

I won’t go into all of the details, but suffice to say my sister-in-law has a love for all things Disney. One of the first things you will learn about her is that her favorite princess is Cinderella… but that she also has a special place in her heart for Peter Pan.

Probably way before she got married, I’m guessing, she knew she wanted a Peter Pan-themed nursery (just look at her Pinterest board!). A theme also encouraged by the fact that she only wanted boys, and probably thought she would get her way. *grin* When I found out she would be visiting this month, I knew we had to throw her a baby shower… and I knew it would have to be a trip to Neverland. Now, when we found out she’s having a girl, we mixed up the details a bit, but still tried to include some basic Peter Pan elements.

We decided early on to have a dessert tea, featuring some of Jenn’s favorites. For her invitations, I took inspiration from a Peter Pan quote which I thought was just perfect:

I used a shimmery silver paper, a photo of multi-colored stacked teacups, along with the quote. Inside along with the details I put some some Tinkerbell and feather silhouettes and another quote: “All you need is faith, trust, and pixie dust.” I decided to go with the colors green, teal, purple, and gold. I included tea-bag shaped cards with fabric scrap tags for the registry info.

Luckily, I had a lot of help from some friends and family, who helped me with all of the planning elements. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a lot of pictures of all the aspects of the party, but enough to get a feel for what the occasion was like. Despite a few unforeseen circumstances, I feel the shower came together so nicely and it seemed like everyone had a wonderful time.

The Food
Who doesn’t love dessert? One of Jenn’s favorites when she used to live in Rhode Island – and when she comes back to visit – is Gregg’s Chocolate Cake. That was our main dessert! Other food that adorned the table: chocolate chip scones with Devonshire cream and jam, brownies, fruit kabobs, assorted cookies, Nutella tea sandwiches, pretzels with chocolate, cheese and crackers, sweet tea (for the southern gal that she is!), lemonade, sparkling water, assorted hot teas.

The Decorations
I had lots of ideas for decorations, incorporating stars (you know, “second star to the right” and all), mermaids, pirates, fairies, trunks, alligators, fishnets, sails, etc…. but we ended up keeping it pretty simple – and I only got a few photos at that. The small trunk actually holds the favors, but it doubled as a decoration. There were a few framed prints of Peter Pan quotes throughout the two main rooms, a bottle of “Pixie Dust,” star garlands and stars scattered across the tables, a tulle banner, beautiful tissue paper streamers set up in one corner, ribbon, Peter Pan silhouettes, etc. And oh, hello there kitty.

In case you’re interested, the favors for the women echoed the elements at the party: a couple single-serve iced tea packets, some chocolate, and star wish bracelets that I DIYed (inspiration). The girls received bags with princess stickers, star glitter bouncy balls, pixie sticks, and stencils.

The Activities
I’m so glad I had help putting together the activities, because they were a huge hit and would have been a lot for any one person to do herself. I loved the idea of a baby’s first alphabet book, and found some inspiration on Pinterest. I ended up creating my own pages and using an album I already had on hand, cutting the pages to fit. The guests decorated each page, drawing a picture to coincide with that letter of the alphabet and signing their name. Everyone had fun doing this as soon as they arrived, and we all sat around trying to think of what to draw and admiring – or laughing at! – the creations. I thought there would be extra pages left over, but everyone kept drawing till the letters were all used up!

My sister put together the onesie-signing with fabric markers – another big hit, especially with the girls. Some people drew pictures, others wrote their names, along with funny things for the parents to read. Hilarious!

People also spent some time filling out “wishes for baby.” I wanted to do a “wishing tree” or some sort of place to hang the cards, but I ended up just setting everything up in a box. It worked out nicely because all of the activities were contained on the coffee table.

My good friend Nichole found a beautiful beachy glass jar at Christmas Tree Shops for the “advice and words of encouragement for mommy” activity (inspiration). There were rolled-up pieces of brown paper tied with twine, and guests could fill them in and drop them in the jar. So meaningful and beautiful! I suggested to Jenn that, later on, she could use the jar to store things in the nursery because it’s pretty big – maybe outgrown booties or some special keepsake/memento.

The Games
I didn’t get any photos of the games we played because… well, we were busy playing! No cheesy games involving dirty diapers or measuring Jenn’s tummy, but my mom put together some fun things we all enjoyed.

The first was a list of baby-related words, and we had to fill in the blank next to them based on what we thought Jenn would answer (basically a word association). She filled out her own sheet, then we compared answers. The one(s) who had the most that matched the mom-to-be got a prize.

Ohmigosh, the candy bar game was fun! My mom must have bought every candy bar known to man, which filled a big basket. She called out baby-related phrases, and we had to guess which candy bar matched that phrase. For instance – “hospital bill?” 100 Grand! “Umbilical cord?” Red Vines. “Breastfeeding?” Milky Way. You get the idea.

The Gifts
I wanted to bring an old steamer trunk that belonged to my grandparents, use it as a prop somewhere, maybe for gifts, but the hostess already had a wooden cradle that was a perfect prop.

It’s always fun to see what new mommies get at their showers! I included some handmade things, of course – blankies, infinity nursing scarves, bibs and burp cloths, a seersucker outfit, wooden teether, mermaid pillow… it was fun to see how they were received. Addy helped open some of the gifts and took it upon herself to confiscate some of the children’s books for a short time.

The Guests
It was a small, intimate shower, and I think it was nice that way. Not everyone could make it, but some of Jenn’s closest friends and family were there. Of course, I seemed to get Addy in every photo…

The quote I included along with the wish bracelets in the favor bags: “Dreams do come true, if only we wish hard enough.” Lots and lots of wishes for Dan, Jenn, and their baby girl.